As part of efforts to reduce the impact impact of climate change, environmentalists have asked for more efforts towards preserving Nigeria’s biodiversity.

The Minister of State for Environment, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, said it had become necessary for Nigerian businesses to adopt new mechanisms and interactions with nature in managing resources to prevent the nation from losing its rich biodiversity to the climate change crisis.

The minister said the current administration was working on developing policies and programmes that would deepen the contribution of the Nigerian business community to the restoration of the nation’s ecosystem and preservation of its biological resources.

She said the expertise, skills and funding coming from key players in the private sector in partnership with government would open up new opportunities.

“Such mix would not only expose the business community to the interactions of their enterprise with nature but more importantly allow them to bring on board opportunities to use existing and possibly new and innovative financial instruments for the sustainable use and management of our biological resources,” Ikeazor said.

The minister spoke in Lagos at the maiden edition of the ‘Nigerian businesses for nature’ organised by the Lekki Conservation Centre in conjunction with the World Wide Fund for Nature, with the theme, ‘New deal for nature and people’.

According to Ikeazor, the success of financing instrument such as green bonds issued by the Nigerian government in two tracks has been supporting the fight against climate change.

She explained that the Federal Government was already looking at the possibility of floating blue bonds for the biodiversity conservation subsector.

“Blue bonds will definitely help in the sustainable management and use of our rich freshwater, marine and ocean resources which harbour a great percentage of the biological diversity of life forms in Nigeria,” the minister said.

Ikeazor also called for realistic policy recommendations from businesses that could feed into Nigeria’s preparation to the 15th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity taking place in China in 2020.

A member of the House of Representatives, representing Ikwuano/ Umuahia North/ South federal constituency of Abia State, Samuel Onuigbo, said the Climate Change Bill currently before the green chamber would help to mainstream climate change responses and actions into government policy formulation and implementation.

Onuigbo, who sponsored the bill, stated although it was passed by the 8th Assembly, it could not get to the President’s assent due to the delay in reviewing some clauses.

According to him, the bill has been brought back and reintroduced to the committee and will soon be passed by the House of Representatives.

The Director-General, Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano, said the world was on verge of losing one million species according to the United Nations studies.

Aminu-Kano also called for more private sector-driven actions aimed at developing the nation’s biodiversity.